I will only continue to make jokes at your expense. It's better if you just let it go now.

You've given up on having any position of seriousness, beyond Randian absolutes. Take a cue from her. She got on SS before her death, because her dog eat dog worldview couldn't compete with the reality of paying for care.

It's inherently childish, this behavior from Republicans. I'm not pessimistic enough to believe Romneycare was an attempt to destroy this state. If I'm correct about that, surely that indicates it was thought to be a good idea.

So what changed other than the national scope of this law? The party in power.

So did the idea become poisonous since 06 randomly, or is this just an extension of the explicitly stated strategy of denying this president any legislative achievements?

I don't believe Romney signed off on Romneycare because it was the right thing to do. I believe he did it because he thought it would propel him into the White House. Go back to when it happened, you'll see editorials from the right elevating Romney to Obama-like levels of adoration. It was sickening to me, then. That was right around the time when I stopped being a registered (R) and went for the primary-free NPA on my voter registration card.

I should add, healthcare reform was 20 odd years deep upon Romney's entrance to the scene.

The Dem dominated house/senate overrode his vetos on a great many bills over the years, so it wasn't shoved down political throats by him. He advocated for mandated private, as his business mind (and a certain thinktank) saw widening the consumer base, as being integral to its practical application in the real world.

Seemed like bipartisan compromise achieving real world results, at the time. 97% coverage speaks for its self. Compromise isn't a dirty word...crevice is a dirty word.

So what changed other than the national scope of this law? The party in power.

Therein lies a good part of the rub.

The scope of the law, the new taxes it imposes and the fact that many are exempt while other are penalized if by choice, they do not participate.

Self reliance is a concept alien to many in this country. In two generations we have gone from a work hard and get ahead ethic to what we have now.

When Blue Cross/Blue Shield discovered I am self employed, my family coverage was going to increase by close to $800/mo. I opted to drop myself and keep the rest of the family insured through the wife's employer's policy. Rates still went up, as did everyone's once the Affordable Care Act was signed into law.

This state, Oklahoma, is one that has opted to not participate in Obama's latest power grab / entitlement program.